


Memories of Ando Park

by MezzoElegy



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Missing Persons, Mystery, Plot-Important but not Plot-Centric original characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-13 15:48:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17490803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MezzoElegy/pseuds/MezzoElegy
Summary: Asahi had always loved that park. The serenity, the open space-- he'd grown up there. He thought he might be falling in love there. And every good memory he had there fell apart the day he discovered his missing student's bag near the bridge.Featuring literature teacher Asahi and Detective Nishinoya, over a backdrop of missing kids and small-town mystery.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Never thought I would actually have to do this, but here we are:
> 
> All similarities to people, places, or situations in real life are purely coincidental, and not to be taken as truth. I swear all of this just came off the top of my head, and I did no research whatsoever for this, so it's just... a story. Maybe I should try to figure out if any of this has actually happened anywhere.
> 
> Oh, well.

Asahi’s eyes flicked back and forth across the classroom as he took attendance, heart sinking when he saw an empty chair near the middle of the room for the fourth day in a row. He paused, eying the desk uneasily.

“Does anybody know where Yamada-chan is?”

A few of his students murmured, shaking their heads. He clicked his pen against his thigh a few times before shaking his head, continuing on with attendance. It was probably nothing. Maybe she just had the flu, or her family went on a spontaneous holiday, or…

_Or maybe something happened to her_ , the traitorous part of his mind made itself known with a vengeance. He quickly shoved those thoughts away. Ever since he was in middle school, he’d always overthought things—his mind supplied worst-case scenarios like a restaurant provided food. It was something he’d mostly learned to deal with over the years, but every once in a while, situations like the power going out despite there being no storm, or one of his students being gone for too long without any notice to him or the school, brought the nerves back.

He was sure it was nothing, but maybe a house call after class wouldn’t hurt.

 

He stepped into the office when school ended and froze in the doorway as every eye in the unusually crowded room landed on him. He felt himself begin to sweat under the attention.

“Azumane-san, thank you for finally joining us,” the principal said, and though there was amusement in her voice, there was none in her smile. “You must not have gotten the email I sent out over lunch.”

“No, I didn’t. I’m very sorry.”

She shook her head. “It’s fine, you’re only two or three minutes late. Regardless, you should come in and have a seat. There’s a… situation… that we’d like to bring you up to speed on.”

Asahi stepped further into the room and slid the office door shut behind him, the soft click as it hit the frame feeling somehow final. He moved to his desk and sat, crossing his legs. He looked around at all the other teachers, who seemed just as confused as he was, and then looked up to the front of the room, where several unfamiliar people stood, scanning the room with varying levels of appraisal. He accidentally made eye contact with one of them—a shorter young man with intense golden-brown eyes and an odd blond streak in the front of his hair that struck Asahi as unusually unprofessional, who seemed to be looking at him in particular. Was it just because he was late, or…

His heart found itself a home in his throat as he saw a police badge of some kind on his belt.

“Thank you all for coming,” one of the men said, putting his hands on his hips. “To begin, I’d like to say that though the circumstances are poor, I hope that we can all cooperate to put things back to normal. I am Suzuki Makoto. My colleagues and I are here from the Miyagi Police Department, to investigate two recently-filed missing persons cases.”

Asahi’s blood ran cold.

“The students in question are third-year Han Mi-Jin, an exchange student from South Korea, and second-year Yamada Natsuki. Both were reported missing two days ago, with their last known locations somewhere around Karasuno High School. For obvious reasons, this has been kept from the students,” the officer said, expression severe, “but we’re concerned that it could happen again. We’re asking all of you to please cooperate with the investigation as it continues, and also to be on the lookout for any suspicious characters.”

An older gentleman that Asahi recognized as the local police chief from the days back in high school when people would call the police on him just for standing around too long stepped forward, shaking the first speaker’s hand before addressing the rest of the room.

“Good afternoon. Let us thank the Miyagi Police Department for their involvement in this case. We hope for the best and will be working with you until it’s settled. Suzuki-san will be here for the next several days assisting at the department, but the detective assigned here until it is resolved is standing just there—everybody, let’s welcome Detective Nishinoya Yuu-san.” The chief gestured to the man that Asahi had made eye contact with earlier, and to his eternal embarrassment, he _winked_ at him before taking a step forward, grinning at the crowd.

“Hello, everybody! I’m Detective Nishinoya. I don’t have a whole lot to say; my coworkers are a lot better with words than I am, but I want to say that if there’s anything—and I mean anything!—that you can think of related to the case, even if it seems stupid, you can call on me. I’ll be staying in the area for a while, unless whatever the cause of this is happens to be really stupid.” He got a few laughs out of that. Asahi felt slightly more at ease whenever the detective was talking—probably because he seemed to be very friendly. He made people feel welcome. There was a sudden shift in the attitude of the room as Nishinoya sobered, eying them all carefully. “… Guys, I’m gonna do my best to bring those girls back. I promise. So please do your best to help me out. And also… watch out for your students. They might need you to.”

The police chief nodded his thanks as Nishinoya stepped back. “I couldn’t have said it better myself. Now, then… the detective will be setting up interviews with certain students and members of staff over the course of the next few days, so let’s please do our best to accommodate them. For now, you’re all dismissed—have a safe evening.”

Asahi sat at his desk for a few moments in stunned silence. Students were missing. One of _his_ students was missing. He put a hand to his chest and took several long, deep breaths. It would be okay. They brought a real detective in, and he seemed confident. He should be confident in him, too.

He finally managed to bring himself to stand, slinging his bag over his shoulder. Taking one last look around the room, he found his eyes drawn to that splash of bleached hair, and then down to Nishinoya’s attentive eyes. There was no doubt about it this time—the detective was looking at him. He probably had been the whole time. Asahi paled as he considered that he might be a suspect already. He thought he’d grown past being as suspicious as he was in high school now that he actually was an adult, but… then again, maybe not.

Even so, Asahi made it a point to smile and bow slightly as he left the office.

He didn’t manage to shake the feeling of those eyes for the rest of the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they finally meet...

Asahi settled himself on a bench halfway through his walk to work to eat his breakfast, as he always did. He smiled politely at the people he had known forever—an older lady that always walked her little dog early in the morning, a couple of university students on the way to the bus stop. His heart clenched uncomfortably as he considered that these people might suddenly be in danger. He didn’t know them personally, but… the thought of any one of them getting hurt…

He took a bite of his pastry. It was dry this morning.

An unfamiliar set of jogging footsteps drew him out of his reverie, and he looked up just as they came to a halt in front of him, followed by a loud, “Yo!”

Nishinoya took an earbud out, breathing a little uneven as he settled his hands on his hips with the widest grin Asahi had ever seen. “You’re Azumane, right?”

“I… am,” he said slowly, still not processing information nearly as quickly as the detective could throw it out. He was wearing shorts and a thin track jacket of some kind, despite it being so cold, and his hair was falling into his eyes a bit—a stark difference from how it had been yesterday, all spiked up and lethal. Here, this early in the morning, with his hair down, the man just looked… friendly. It took him a moment too long to realize that he was staring at his exposed legs, and he sat up quickly, heat burning under his collar. “Sorry! Sorry, I—it’s a little early for me, I spaced out. Aren’t—aren’t you cold, dressed like that?”

“Nah,” he said easily, shooting him a sly kind of grin. “I’m used to it. You look like you’re freezing, though. Your nose is all pink. Are you headed to work?”

Asahi nodded. “I’ve got a few minutes before I need to leave. Do you need directions or anything?”

Nishinoya shrugged. “I was just gonna run until I found something I recognized. Where even are we? But since I ran into you, I guess I met that requirement! Can we talk?”

“Sure. And, uh… this is Ando Park. Pretty close to the school.” Asahi exhaled, watching his breath puff out as Nishinoya settled cross-legged on the bench next to him, pivoting to look at him more directly. Those brown eyes seemed to glow in the early morning light. Asahi shivered, unsettled. “Is this the part where you interrogate me?”

“I was planning on asking to do that later, but if you’d rather do it now…”

“Whatever’s easier,” Asahi breathed, voice losing most of its volume as his stomach twisted. He wondered where those girls were. If they were okay.

Nishinoya looked at him very intently with an expression Asahi wasn’t sure how to gauge. “Let’s do it later, then. Lunch. And it’s less an interrogation, more an interview. Don’t stress too much about it—you seem like the type to think too much about things, Azumane-san.”

“I am that,” he chuckled, leaning back on his gloved hands. “So what _do_ you want to talk about?”

He shrugged again, an easy gesture that fit him well. “How about you? You seem like an interesting sort of guy.”

“That I am not,” Asahi replied. He shook his head, smiling. “I’m just a literature teacher. I grew up here, you know? Just a few blocks that way. My parents still live there. I visit once or twice a week. They keep bugging me about settling down, having a kid or three. Pretty standard.”

Nishinoya laughed, the full-bodied kind that reminded him of his high school volleyball team. “I get that. My gramps is always on me about that, too. ‘I’m not gonna be around forever, Yuu! I expect grandchildren at some point!’ But honestly? I don’t know if I could do that. My job’s kind of dangerous. I wouldn’t want somebody else always worrying about me and whether or not I would be coming home. Especially not if I loved them, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“… You’re real easy to talk to, Azumane-san,” Nishinoya said, kicking his legs out and stretching his arms far above his head. He jumped up onto the bench and grinned. “Thanks for stopping to talk with me! Most people get uncomfortable around me one-on-one because they always feel like I’m trying to get something from them. But I’ll save that for lunch, I promise. I should be getting to work here soon—I’ll see you later, though.”

Asahi nodded, forcing himself off the bench as Nishinoya ran off in the direction he’d been heading earlier. He was probably running late now. Even so, he couldn’t bring himself to regret talking with the man. It had been… kind of nice, he decided. Pleasant, even.

He tripped on the steps up to the door walking inside and went straight to the office, hoping nobody was waiting for him. The room was completely silent when he walked in, so he set his bag down and flipped open his lesson plans for the day. The exhaustion he’d felt earlier hit him again all at once. He sighed.

It was going to be a long day.


	3. Chapter 3

When Asahi made it back from the bathroom that afternoon, he balked at the sight of Nishinoya sitting cross-legged on his desk, chatting casually with a few of his students about nothing in particular. They all seemed amused—even the ones further towards the back who were just pulling out their lunches to eat laughed at something he said, and the girls at the front leaned into each other to whisper something conspiratorially amongst themselves.

Every encounter with Nishinoya began with uncomfortably direct eye contact, and it was beginning to wear at Asahi’s weak heart.

“Oh, Azumane-san!” Nishinoya lifted a hand in greeting. “I hope you don’t mind; I came in a minute after you left, apparently, so I decided to wait for you to get back. I knew you wouldn’t ditch me!”

The detective’s voice was cheery, but Asahi was the only one the thin layer of warning was meant for. He hadn’t meant to make the man think he’d run from the interview…

“No, I’m sorry to make you wait. Lunch is my only chance for a restroom break.” He made a face at the way Nishinoya was sitting, and the other man laughed raucously, jumping to his feet.

“Come on, then. They’re letting me borrow an office for a while, so we’ll talk there. Bring your lunch! It could be a while,” he said easily, sauntering past him with his hands tucked in the pockets of his leather jacket.

Asahi followed along with the instructions blindly, before he even realized what he was doing. Just before he left, he made sure to ask another teacher to keep an eye on his kids, and then he jogged a few steps to catch up to the detective before he could make it too far. They walked in silence for a few minutes, Asahi much too nervous to say anything, until he finally turned into an office in the first-year corridors that Asahi knew hadn’t been used since he was a third-year.

“They cleaned in here, at least,” he mumbled softly as Nishinoya shut the door behind him. He expected some kind of snicker, but he didn’t respond, simply making his way around the desk and gesturing for Asahi to sit down. He did so, pushing his lunch off to the side. Something told him he wasn’t going to be very hungry.

Nishinoya sat down himself, seeming somehow satisfied, and smiled politely. It felt wrong.

“So, Azumane-san… first of all, thank you for joining me this afternoon. As you know, my name is Detective Nishinoya Yuu, and I’m here at Karasuno High School to investigate a recent pair of missing persons cases. As I understand it, you’re one of the girls’ homeroom teacher, correct?”

Asahi swallowed hard. “Yes. Sir. Yes, sir.”

“None of that ‘sir’ stuff, Azumane-san,” Nishinoya’s lips quirked upwards in amusement. “I’m just asking you some questions. Which student is yours?”

The detective’s sudden shifts in attitude were giving Asahi whiplash.

“Yamada-chan is in my homeroom,” he said softly.

“And you last saw her when?”

He bit the inside of his cheek. “Monday evening. I was going around doing house visits for the last quarter of my class—the Yamada family was my third to last stop. She seemed… fine. She’s doing well in school, no signs of any problems at home or internally.”

“I see. That would make you the last person to see her before she vanished,” he said, scribbling a few things down in unintelligible script on a tattered notebook. Asahi felt his heart sink to his knees when he said, “… at least, outside of her parents. Her friends have already said that they didn’t see her on their way to school the next morning, and she obviously never made it in. Hm. Well, that gives me a time to investigate, at least.”

“Oh, god, am I a suspect?”

The words slipped out, barely a whisper, before he could stop them. Again, he expected a laugh. Again, he got nothing. Instead, Nishinoya flipped Asahi’s hand over from across the desk and pressed his fingers into the pulse point on his wrist. He lifted an eyebrow after a long moment.

“… Please eat something, Azumane-san. I can feel your stress from here.” Nishinoya sat back, shaking his head. “I’m not supposed to say who is and isn’t a suspect, but I can probably bend that rule a little. So, honestly? Everyone’s a suspect, but I have a gut feeling that you aren’t responsible. I’ve been in the business a while, and you’re not the type. You’re too nice. Too… trusting. And way too worried about it.”

Asahi took a small bite of his rice, despite the twisting in his stomach. He felt his anxiety begin to ebb away as Nishinoya spoke—he could accept that.

He glanced at the clock. “Okay, just a few more questions. I’ve already been introduced to her best friends, but is there anyone else she hangs out with? Maybe a group of older kids, or some boy that she’s moony for?”

“I wouldn’t have any idea about that, sorry. She kind of kept to herself in class. I think she’s in a sport, though. You’d have to ask somebody else to figure out which one.” He scratched at his goatee, thoughtful. “… Maybe track.”

Nishinoya scribbled that down, too. “Great! How about the other girl? Do you know her at all?”

“I’ve never met her before. I’ve heard of her, of course—Karasuno is kind of in the middle of nowhere, so any foreign exchange students are few and far between. They get a lot of attention.”

“Makes sense. I wonder, though… hm. Have you heard anything else about her? Maybe an activity she’s in, or what she does after school?”

Asahi spoke slowly, eyebrows lifting when he finally realized what he was trying to say. “Mi-Jin-chan is here on a track scholarship.”

Nishinoya froze, eyes wide. “… Holy shit.”

“Detective—”

“That’s all I need from you, Azumane-san,” Nishinoya grinned, setting his notebook down with a slap. “Let me know if you think of anything else, okay? Here, I have… uh, where’d it go…”

He rummaged around the desk for a minute, getting increasingly more frustrated as time went on. Eventually, he slammed a drawer shut, held a card up victoriously, and scribbled some numbers on the back. “Here’s my business card! My cell is on the back—call me if you think of anything. Anything! I’ve gotta run; you’re the best, man!”

Nishinoya was gone before Asahi could process a response, leaving in a whirlwind of electricity with a ridiculously hard slap on the back. He didn’t bother shutting the door behind him.

Asahi sat in stunned silence for a long moment, wondering how it was possible for someone to move all the energy in a room with them when they left. His thoughts turned to the track team—if he was right, then he’d helped Nishinoya find a connection between the girls. Was the team being targeted? Were they safe?

Before his thoughts could get the better of him, he forced himself to stand. His knees shook slightly as he walked back to his own classroom. If he was with his students, then he had to be strong. He wouldn’t give himself time to panic. Not for as long as he could help it.


	4. Chapter 4

The park where Asahi always had breakfast was covered in a thin layer of ice that morning. The frost all over the place was beautiful, in its own way—not that Asahi particularly cared for the cold, but it was nice to look at. All pale, sharp, biting energy.

He took a deep breath, leaning against the railing of the bridge. He hadn’t wanted the ice to melt on his pants, so instead, he accepted a minor change of pace and ate looking out over the water. It was a little more disrespectful, but nobody was outside yet. Not in this weather. And it’s not like he was moving, so…

The current seemed sluggish, somehow, despite the energy that the chill was imbuing Asahi with. It made for a very quiet morning. For once, he couldn’t see the water’s path all the way to the next bridge. Fog seemed to be pulled from the sky all around him, settling itself a distance away.

The person that appeared suddenly behind him had no such regard for distance, instead greeting him with yet another hearty slap on the back.

“Good morning, Azumane-san!”

Asahi nearly choked on his eggs. He coughed a bit to clear his throat before turning to start the rest of his day with the golden brown eyes he’d come to expect so early in the morning. It had been close to a week since he’d met Nishinoya Yuu, and the two of them had established an odd kind of routine. Every morning, Nishinoya took a jog in Ando Park, and every morning at the same time, Asahi was cutting through the park on his way to work. They were something like acquaintances by this point—he wondered if maybe it edged closer to “friends”.

“Good morning, Nishinoya-san.” His companion jumped up onto the wooden railing and made himself comfortable as Asahi continued eating. He swallowed another bite, watching his expression morph into a pleased grin. “… What? Do I have something on my face?”

“Nope!” He kicked his legs out, unintentionally (or was it?) sending Asahi’s pulse rocketing as he leaned back dangerously far over the water. “You just seem to be in a good mood for once! Finally coming around to the morning-person side of things, eh?”

Asahi snorted, despite himself. “Hardly. It just feels like a good morning. All crisp and stuff.”

“I feel it too,” Nishinoya grinned, bracing his arms on the railing. “I feel like today I’m gonna make a big breakthrough! I’m already so close I can taste it. But today—today’s gonna push me over the edge!”

“That’d be nice. I really hope you do,” he replied softly, blinking a few times to remove the thoughts of terrified high schoolers from his mind. He took a deep breath. “Nishinoya-san—”

The other man interrupted him, voice uncharacteristically gentle. “My friends call me Noya, you know.”

Asahi’s voice caught in his throat. “… Noya. I—”

The sound of a phone ringing cut through the peaceful air, bringing Asahi’s train of thought to a grinding halt. What had he even been going to say?

Nishinoya glanced at him apologetically before pulling a little flip phone out of the pocket of his shorts. It was different than the cell phone Asahi had seen before, the one that he used to play music while he was running. Maybe a work phone?

His suspicions were confirmed when he trained his face into something less relaxed, more stoic, and put the phone to his ear. “Detective Nishinoya.”

Asahi couldn’t hear the person on the other side of the phone, but based on the way Noya's lips turned down in a grimace, he knew it wasn’t good.

His eyes widened minutely. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Text me the address—I’ll go talk to them. Yes. Thank you.”

When he flipped the phone shut, Asahi thought he saw Nishinoya's fingers tremble. The cold must have been getting to him. “I need to go, Azumane-san. It’s… not good.”

“Wait, what’s going on?” He took several steps back instead of answering, so Asahi grabbed the sleeve of his jacket. “Noya?”

The action seemed to pull him out of his head. Asahi finally meet his eyes again, and in them…

He shuddered.

“Another student was reported missing last night. I need to go.”

He pulled his jacket from Asahi's grip and tore off in the direction of the place he was staying, leaving Asahi winded. He leaned heavily against the railing, not trusting his knees to support him.

Another student, gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are my lifeblood! Thank you, mysterious commenters, though I'm not sure how to respond. I was very happy. I'm glad you like it!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I have doodles. If I get more, I'll label them all, but for now, it's just this one I sketched for Chapter Four over lunch break. I thought it was cute, I mean... You know.
> 
> https://mezzoelegy.tumblr.com/post/182302245268/so-guess-what-i-did-over-lunch-instead-of-eating

“I don’t know what to do,” he heard Noya sigh from inside the office. “There’s no evidence, no tracks, no witnesses—nothing! I want more than anything to bring these girls home, but I have nowhere to start. … Yeah. I did!” There was a long pause, followed by a low, warning voice that Asahi hadn’t ever heard from him before. “It’s not the teacher. Yes, of course I’m sure. You know what-- just—I’ll figure it out. Thanks for nothing.”

Asahi flinched as he heard something that sounded suspiciously like a phone hitting the floor. He shuffled backwards a few steps. Maybe he should come back later? It didn’t seem like a good time.

 _The teacher._ Had the person Noya was talking to been talking about _him_?

The office door opened, and Nishinoya stepped out, pausing as he noticed Asahi a few steps away. “… Azumane-san?”

“Uh—I’m!” He flushed, despite himself, shut his eyes and held out a bag. “Sorry. I… wasn’t sure if you had eaten. You’ve been in here all day. Are… you okay?”

The weight of the bag disappeared, and Asahi squinted to make out the soft smile gracing his lips.

“Thank you,” Noya breathed, voice the same kind of quiet that had sent such a thrill down his spine earlier that morning.

_My friends call me Noya, you know._

He nodded, movements stilted. “Sure. No problem. Anyone would do it, right?”

“No,” he replied with certainty. “Anyone wouldn’t.”

Asahi lost what little nerve he’d had to begin with and took another step back. “I should get back to my class, but, um… “

“Yeah. Go,” Nishinoya waved him off, all bright eyes and crooked grins. “See you around. I told you I was going to make a breakthrough on this case today, didn't I?”

He nodded. “You'd better. I believe in you.”

Asahi hurried off the second his words crossed the barrier from “things you shouldn't say out loud, Asahi, that's creepy” to “things I just said, oh my god, run”. He felt his ears burn at the sound of Noya's laugh.

He stopped the second he made it out of sight to take a deep breath, steadying his nerves. He thought briefly of the little note he’d dropped in the bag with the bread he’d bought and ran a hand down his face, trying to compose himself.

_“You can call me Asahi, too, if you want.”_

His students were bound to make fun of him if he walked back into the classroom like this… What was getting him so flustered?


	6. Chapter 6

It was dark by the time school let out that day, and that meant that Asahi would be taking the short route home through the park. The path was well lit at night. He felt a lot safer going home that way than down the residential streets on the other side of Karasuno, even though he knew he had very little to worry about. It had been years since anybody had messed with him walking home—and they had been punks wandering around trying to lay their claim over the local gang’s turf. They had naturally assumed that Asahi was a part of it.

He snorted a bit at the memory. This part of Miyagi didn’t have any gangs. There was his old friend Tanaka, but Asahi wasn’t really sure he counted. It had just been him, after all—though he claimed his best friend was just as “punk” as he was. Nobody believed in his mysterious friend that went to another school, though. What had his name been?

Asahi shook his head. It didn’t matter. What did matter was getting home in time to grade some of his students’ poetry.

He heard a splash as he was crossing the bridge and froze. It was probably nothing, but… his curiosity got the best of him, so he pulled out his phone to use as a flashlight and took a hesitant step off the path, turning the light down the bank so that he could see better. Something large sat half-discarded on the edge about halfway between him and the next bridge. He slowly walked over to it, heart racing.

When he got close enough to pull it out of the water, he shivered. It was a messenger bag—one of the ones most of the girls at Karasuno used to carry their books. He flipped it open and searched for their school ID. Maybe he could return it to them tomorrow. Water dripped off the cover as he pulled it out, and his heart sank to the ground with the first drops of water.

_Yamada Natsuki. Year Two. Female, 17 years old._

His hands trembled as he turned his phone around, clicking the same buttons over and over in a shaky attempt to find a contact. Eventually, he managed to click the right number, setting the phone to his ear and holding his breath.

“Please answer,” he said, voice barely a whisper. “Please, please answer.”

_“Detective Nishinoya.”_

“Noya!” He exclaimed, much louder than he’d anticipated. He put his free hand to his mouth, dropping the bag and studiously ignoring the heat of the tears that he could feel falling down his cheeks.

_“Asahi? What’s wrong?”_

He shook his head. The world was spinning, why was it doing that? “I—I found—please, just… meet me in the park. Between the bridges. Like, now. Please.”

Shuffling could be heard across the line, followed by Noya’s quiet, _“You got it. I’ll be there in five, okay? I’m running, so don’t freak out. I’ll be there soon.”_

“Okay,” he breathed, slipping his phone into his pocket once he stopped being able to hear Nishinoya over the sound of his own heartbeat. He glanced at the bag on the ground again and gave up on his knees, sinking to the ground a few feet away.

Asahi had always loved the park. The serenity, the open space-- he'd grown up there. He thought he might be falling in love there. And every good memory he had of that park had just fallen apart under the weight of what finding this bag here meant.

Someone was…

Something hit the back of his head, hard, and he couldn’t help the surprised noise that escaped him as his head suddenly hit the ground a little too close to the water. He made an attempt at sitting up, at defending himself, but all for nothing; hands larger than his own, and much stronger, slipped around his throat, pushing his head into the river and holding it there. Asahi flailed blindly, unable to remove the hands from his neck and unable to breathe.

He was going to drown. Oh, god, he was going to _be_ drowned.

He kicked out—made contact—heard a low shout, and his head was pulled above water just long enough for him to take a winded breath before he was pushed entirely in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the hardest time writing this, seriously, but I finally got going and look at where we are now! Ha... haha...


	7. Chapter 7

He barely felt the cold as he surfaced, coughing. He looked around blearily, blinking water out of his eyes. Whoever had just been there was gone. The bag remained discarded a few feet away.

Why had they stopped?

Nishinoya turned the corner of the bridge, flashlight too bright in his eyes. His shouts were just starting to register in Asahi’s brain.

_Get out of the water, you’ll freeze. Are you okay. Asahi, can you hear me._

Everything was muted, but the look of terror on Noya’s features pushed him to act, swimming to the bank and pulling himself up and out of the water. Before he knew it, Noya’s hands were on him—on his own hands, on his shoulders, brushing against his neck, his cheeks.

Asahi sighed. His eyes drifted shut, content with the world so quiet for once, until a gust of particularly biting wind reminded him where he was and what had just occurred.

His eyes shot open, and he looked over at Nishinoya, who was making a phone call. His little leather jacket was on Asahi’s shoulders. When had that happened? He did his best to use it as a shield against the wind, trembling once more for a very different reason.

Noya came back and knelt next to him, one hand slipping into his own and the other settling itself on his cheek. Something in his eyes betrayed that he was in some kind of pain, though Asahi wasn’t sure what it was.

“The police are on their way,” Noya said, eyes scanning the vicinity. “I don’t know if you’re processing right now, but it’s okay. You’re okay. We’re gonna get this all taken care of.”

“Are _you_ okay?” Asahi managed after a long minute, voice much more hoarse than he thought it would be. He supposed he had just been choked.

Nishinoya widened his eyes, incredulous. “You… oh my god, Asahi. How dare you ask me if I’m okay after you were the one just getting attacked.”

They both laughed a little bit. It didn’t break the mood much, but it was enough. Asahi felt the tension return to his system as the police showed up, hurrying over to them with blankets and reports to be filed. One of them did a quick medical exam on Asahi, just to make sure, and decided that he was okay. Tired, for sure, and there would likely be bruises, but he didn’t need to go to the hospital, so there was that.

A few officers exchanged notes with Nishinoya, who had been given a blanket of his own since he’d loaned Asahi his jacket. He looked confident, standing there, and his face remained carefully neutral when they all walked over to Asahi to ask him what had happened. The police filed their reports, and he heard Nishinoya request that they dust the messenger bag for fingerprints.

“Do you want an escort home, Azumane-san?”

Asahi blinked up at the kind officer, not even realizing that he’d been staring at the ground. “Um…” He drew the blanket around his shoulders tighter, swallowing around a lump in his throat. He was a grown man, how was he supposed to say that he didn’t want to be alone, of all things?

His eyes stung.

“I’ll take him home,” Noya cut in. “Thank you for responding so quickly, officers. Have a good night.”

One of them tilted their hat at him, and they watched them pull away, hopefully to get the bag analyzed like Nishinoya had asked.

He pursed his lips, looking up. “Let’s go get you a change of clothes, Asahi. I’m glad they let you keep the blanket, but you’ll still probably catch a cold after all this.”

“Maybe,” he mumbled, trudging a few steps before stopping. He glanced at his friend uneasily before looking in the direction of his apartment. He’d seen the man that attacked him run that way. He hadn’t wanted to mention his anxiety to the officers, but… this was Nishinoya. He would understand, wouldn’t he? His voice barely had any volume. “Um, Noya…”

The man stopped, putting a hand on his hip. His eyebrows furrowed. “Yeah?”

A chill ran down his spine at the darkness in his usually bright eyes. What if he thought he was just being a coward? He stammered over his words. “I—um…”

“Come on, out with it, you big baby. It’s just me,” Noya said, and his reservations melted away. “You can talk to me.”

Asahi felt tears sting the corners of his eyes. “I don’t want to go home. I don’t… want to be alone. I’m kind of scared.”

Nishinoya’s eyes widened, just barely. “Oh. Of course you don’t—god, I’m so stupid. Okay. We’ll go to your place and pick up some clothes. I’ll stay with you the whole time, promise. Then… what if I walked you to your parents’ house?”

“They’re out of town,” he whispered, hand shaking where it clenched the blanket closed around his shoulders. “I have a key, but…”

“Not good enough, huh?” Nishinoya scratched at his chin. After a moment, his eyes brightened. He clicked his fingers, grinning. “Then you’ll just have to stay with me! Come on, let’s go get you something else to wear, and then we’ll head to my place. It’s just a few minutes past the school.”

Asahi nodded in agreement, and Nishinoya spent the rest of the walk to Asahi’s apartment talking. Just talking, enthusiastically, about anything. He knew he was trying to get his mind off what had happened, knew that Noya had to be observing the streets around them for any potential dangers, but Asahi decided to let it work. Noya’s good moods were infectious, after all, even when they were fake.

They made it to the old complex and stepped into the building. True to his word, Nishinoya stuck close by the entire time they were there—just long enough to change and grab the things he’d need to get ready for work in the morning. He made sure to lock both locks on his door when he left, and then followed Noya as he jumped straight back into the one-sided conversation about something relating to popsicles.

Their walk took them around the park, this time, not through it. They passed the school, and Nishinoya was talking about his best friend. They passed the convenience store, and Asahi chimed in a few short sentences on a conversation about the guy that managed it.

“He was my volleyball coach in my third year of high school,” he said, a smile returning to him at the memories. He didn’t get around to see Ukai very often. Maybe he could drop by after class tomorrow. “I wonder if he still coaches somewhere else.”

“No way, you played volleyball? I did, too! What position?”

Asahi scratched the back of his head. “I was a wing spiker.”

“Well, of course you were, built like that!” Noya’s words set Asahi’s ears to burning. “I bet you were good, too.”

“I was alright,” he smiled. His whole team had been ‘alright’, at least until they were joined by those four first years his last year. They’d gone from ‘alright’ to ‘pretty good’ really fast, but without a solid defense, their games were always really tough. “What did you play?”

“Libero! People always told me that I was pretty good at it, but I don’t know. Finally made best in the prefecture my third year. I always kind of wondered if I would’ve made the best in Japan had I gone on to play pro.”

Asahi’s heart skipped a beat. “I knew I knew you from somewhere! You went to Chidoriyama Middle School!”

“Sure did,” he grinned. “Man, was I famous?”

“Are you kidding? Our captain made us watch videos of  Aoba Johsai—that’s where you went, right? Because their defense was so good. We never got to play each other, though… Karasuno didn’t start winning until the year I left. And they weren’t good until they got a libero the year after.”

Nishinoya laughed, the sound too loud in the quiet streets and echoing perfectly through Asahi’s chest. “Man! I almost wish I’d gone to Karasuno! We could have met a lot earlier, huh?”

They walked up to a house a few blocks from the high school, and Asahi watched Noya pull a key out of his pocket.

“This is the house I grew up in,” he said easily. “I almost _did_ go to Karasuno. Crazy.”

“Crazy,” Asahi echoed, stepping inside behind him.

“I don’t have much to eat—are you hungry, Asahi?”

He shook his head. The thought of eating made him queasy.

Noya flipped a few lights on, throwing his bag on the chair sitting in the corner of the living room. It was a cute little house, Asahi decided, looking around from where he stood in the entry. He slipped his shoes off, eying all the worn frames and happy family photos everywhere. It was easy to spot Noya in any of them—it seemed he’d always been so… magnetic.

“Oh, don’t look at those,” he said, coming back in with an apple and a glass of water. He bit into the apple. “My grandpa liked to take pictures. He wasn’t any good, though. I just haven’t had the heart to take ‘em down yet. It’s kind of sentimental, y’know?”

“I get it,” Asahi breathed. He took a sip of the water Noya had handed him. “… Thank you.”

Noya blinked, not bothering to swallow his bite of apple before he said, “For what?”

“For... For the water. For letting me stay. For helping me out earlier. For coming here. Just… for everything. I’m very grateful to you… Nishinoya.”

“Oh.” To his surprise, Noya ducked his head. It was a simple gesture, but an endearing one. It almost seemed shy. “Well, you’re welcome, I guess. Anyone would have done the same.”

Asahi leaned forward, fidgeting with his hands. “No. Anyone wouldn’t.”

Noya averted his gaze, taking longer than he needed to chewing another bite. Asahi folded the blanket while he was silent, and he eventually said, “I’m gonna go shower. I feel gross after all that. I’ll be back in a few.”

He wandered off, seeming somehow dazed, and Asahi sat down and curled his legs under his body, leaning heavily against the arm of the couch. Noya always took the energy of the room with him, and this time, it left Asahi only with his own exhaustion. His eyes slipped shut.


	8. Chapter 8

Asahi didn’t have an alarm clock. Not in so many words, anyway—so when the shrill cry of what was obviously an alarm woke him up before the music or bird calls he set on his phone that usually roused him, his instinctive reactions were… well, less than graceful.

His eyes shot open as the couch lurched next to him. A soft, “Shit, shit, shit--!” could be heard alongside rapid footsteps, and Asahi sucked in a panicked breath, wincing at the pain radiating from his throat. A form he couldn’t recognize in the darkness with his bleary eyes rushed into the room, and despite the pain, he screamed, falling back over the arm of the couch.

Couch…?

The figure shushed him, moving to the corner of the unfamiliar room and flipping on a light. Nishinoya approached slowly, hands in the air and trying to smile in what Asahi assumed was supposed to be a disarming, relaxed manner.

Guilt burned in his chest. Noya had been kind enough to let him stay over after the events of last night, and so far, he’d repaid him by waking up and screaming at him, like he was a stranger. Like he was going to hurt him.

“Noya,” he croaked, heart rate slowing. God, his throat hurt.

Shaking his head, Nishinoya knelt on the ground close by, not quite touching Asahi’s leg. He furrowed his eyebrows. “You shouldn’t talk, Asahi.”

“I—”

“Shh,” Nishinoya soothed, one hand lifting Asahi’s jaw so that the other could trace gently along his neck. It slowed in certain spots, like he was observing something, and Asahi prayed to whatever deity could hear him that he wouldn’t pay too much attention to how hard his heart was beating through the vein in his neck. He stifled a pained cry as his thumb pushed too hard into what felt like a large bruise. Noya pulled his hand away, looking somehow burned, and lifted his eyebrows, concerned. “I’m sorry. It hurts?”

Asahi opened his mouth to speak, but closed it instantly upon seeing the look on Noya’s face. He nodded silently, instead.

“Your throat hurts, too, then?”

Another nod.

Noya sat back on his heels, running a hand through his own blond bangs. He exhaled roughly. “Should’ve expected that. It doesn’t look pretty, either—I mean, it… Well. It’s very tough-looking?”

Asahi lifted a hand to his neck, eyes wide. How bad could it be? The officer that examined him had mentioned that there would likely be some bruising, but…

He shivered as he remembered the feeling of fingers around his neck and lowered his hand.

“You’re lucky I was there to get rid of that guy,” Nishinoya said, trying to break the mood with one of his trademark grins. It didn’t reach his eyes. “… And that he was kind of an idiot. Honestly, that’s not how you choke someone at all! Always go for the windpipe, Asahi, and never use—”

Asahi felt warm tears sting the corner of his eyes. He set his hand gently on Nishinoya’s mouth—a request.

_Please stop talking._

The other man fell silent. He looked up at Asahi, more subdued than he’d ever seen him. Nishinoya lived in extremes, it seemed, but this… this wasn’t one Asahi liked very much.

When Asahi removed his hand, Nishinoya licked his lips and took a breath. “You should probably call into work. Unless you plan on teaching silently while wearing the biggest scarf in Japan…”

He paled. What if his students needed him? He hadn’t come up with a substitute plan, he hadn’t given notice, and now more than ever, he couldn’t leave his kids alone—

“Asahi.” The sound of his name on Noya’s lips pulled him from the pit of worst-case scenarios. “The school will understand. Everyone will be fine without you there for one day while you recover. You were attacked, you know. Most people would just get a note from a hospital or a police officer. Luckily for you, I can vouch for you! I also have the authority to write official excuse notes.”

Noya’s grin was sincere this time, and he waggled his eyebrows as Asahi pulled his mouth into an exaggerated pout. He was right, Asahi knew he was, but… What else was he supposed to do?

“I can take care of it. Of… Of you, I mean. My job is on hold until those test results come in. And you found the bag, after all. It’s the least I can do.”

Asahi shook his head, waving his hands. He couldn’t pull Noya away from his work, even if he claimed it could be put on hold. Not for him. He wasn’t nearly as important as finding those girls.

Nishinoya furrowed his eyebrows. The electric intensity of those eyes was set on him full force, even shaded as they were in the dim lighting. They looked dark grey, though he knew them to be golden brown. They were the eyes of someone with a lot to lose.

“Asahi, can’t you see that you’re important to me?” Asahi stopped breathing, ears burning at Nishinoya’s easy honesty. “Let me take care of you, because you’ve done so much for me. It’s your turn. I’ll take care of everything.”

When Asahi’s lungs demanded air again, he made an embarrassing little gasping noise that devolved into a horribly painful cough—the hacking kind that grated on his already sore throat. He tried to focus more on how to soothe his throat than on the sudden press of Noya’s body to his, more on how long it would take for the bruises to go away than on how easily such a little frame lifted most of his weight off the ground to deposit him on the couch. More on the awful situation that was building around them than on how close his face was when he leaned over Asahi’s prone form to grab at the blanket that had fallen in his earlier panic.

He spread the blanket over him and put his hands on his hips, seeming satisfied. “Get some sleep, Asahi. The body heals faster if you’re asleep, you know!”

_I know_ , he didn’t say, but made sure to roll his eyes to keep himself distracted from how completely, utterly screwed he was.

Nishinoya set one hand to Asahi’s cheek and hummed, a sly little smile quirking up on his lips. He said nothing, though, and wandered off to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what.

Asahi rolled onto his side and buried his face in his arm. His cheeks were so warm. There was no way Noya hadn’t noticed. He made a pitiful whimpering noise that wasn’t worth the sudden sharp pain in his throat before forcing his eyes shut so he could focus on resting.

After all, if he was asleep, then he didn’t have to think about his pathetic infatuation on the man that had come to be a sort of lighthouse in the darkest period of Asahi’s life.

… He was so doomed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying for a balance of action and fluff, but the story (and Asahi's perspective, especially) lends itself so well to the emotional side of all this! Is my pacing weird?


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, um... wow, this is not how I planned this chapter to go.

Nishinoya breathed in soft and quick, lithe form curled up on a chair across the room and, mercifully, fast asleep. Asahi watched the gentle rise and fall of his chest in the light of the television that neither of them had bothered to turn off when the movie had ended hours ago. His leg twitched, and Asahi sucked in a breath, fully prepared to pretend like he was asleep and not creeping on another man while he dozed in his own house. But Nishinoya just gave a little snore and rolled over, sprawling over the arm and barely missing kicking the lamp off the table.

Asahi let his breath out slowly, marveling at how quickly he’d fallen asleep. It shouldn’t have been much of a wonder—Noya was a morning person, he’d known that since the day he met him, so the fact that he fell asleep easily shouldn’t have been so amazing. Asahi himself could stay up for many hours, doing nothing, though he usually liked to try and get to sleep a little early because it took him so long to drift off.

He glanced at the clock Noya had moved into the room for his benefit. _12:13 AM_. He wasn’t even all that tired. Of course, with Nishinoya waiting on him all day, he also hadn’t had much opportunity to get his excess energy out. He flushed a bit as the events of the day rolled around in his mind once again.

By now, he had almost adapted to Nishinoya’s quirks—his loud voice, how physical he was for no reason at all, the way he could make a person feel like they were the only one in the whole world…

_Get it together, Asahi,_ he paled. _Turn it down. That’s so creepy._

Yeah, he had it bad. Fortunately, he had also long since decided to keep it firmly internal, and besides, with any luck, Noya wouldn’t even be here that long. He told Asahi that he’d grown up in this house, but he obviously didn’t live here anymore. He lived in Sendai, he’d said for no particular reason during dinner. That’s where his department was. It made sense.

The thought of him returning to the city tore a part of Asahi apart. He tried not to hate himself for feeling a little relieved, also; if Noya left, then Asahi would have so many fewer opportunities to make a fool of himself _pining_.

For once, the traitorous part of his mind wasn’t thinking in worst-case scenarios. Instead, it offered a simple, _If you asked him to, would he stay?_

Asahi didn’t want to think about it.

Luckily, he didn’t have to—the sound of Nishinoya’s work phone ringing forced him to drop his head, doing his best to pretend that he’d been sleeping this entire time. He heard Noya fumble for the phone, dropping it off the arm of the chair and cursing once under his breath before picking it up.

“Detective Nishinoya.”

He didn’t bother to mask the sleepiness of his voice, which Asahi definitely didn’t think was cute at all, no siree—

“Oh, they are? Yes. No, I was, but I’m up now, so I’ll… Yeah. It’s no big deal. Thanks. Yeah, be there in twenty. Uh-huh. Bye.”

The phone snapped shut, and he heard Nishinoya sigh, a long, drawn out sound that he recognized as resigned. He shuffled away into the other room, and by the time he came back, Asahi really was almost asleep. The jangle of keys pulled him barely out of unconsciousness.

He felt Noya stop by the side of the couch—could feel the burning of his eyes, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, for once. Asahi barely had time to wonder in his current state of not-quite-asleep if he was considering waking him up to tell him he was leaving before Noya shifted, brushed some hair away from Asahi’s forehead, and pressed his lips to his exposed temple.

Asahi knew that the simple thought of that would fry him come morning, but for now, it was very relaxing, and just the push he needed to cross the boundary into sleep.

The apartment door shut.

What felt like seconds later, but was probably much longer, Asahi came around to the sound of soft cries, pulling him from sleep and firmly into horrible reality. A strange man that took him too long to recognize as the one that had attacked him a day ago stood above him, a manic sort of grin on his face.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty.”

Asahi sat up and pushed himself into the corner of the couch, bracing himself to scream, when the man put a finger to his own lips, shushing him. He gestured over his shoulder, and when Asahi looked, his fear shifted and morphed into horror—into understanding. Three girls sat on the floor near the chair Noya had fallen asleep in earlier, huddled together and crying. None of them were looking at him, but instead at the weapon in the stranger’s free hand, pointed right at them.

His blood ran cold.

“There. Knew you couldn’t be a teacher for nothing! You’re a smart guy, huh?” The man moved the gun to level it with Asahi’s eyes. “Go join them on the floor, teach. We’ve got some time to kill until shorty gets back.”

Asahi didn’t move, completely frozen. Where was Noya?

Pain radiated from a new wound that he was sure was bleeding as something struck him across the temple. He hissed at the sting of it, but then obeyed, moving to the floor and sitting between the man and the girls. They still hadn’t looked up, but to his relief, none of them seemed to be hurt. Just really scared.

“Who are you?” Asahi said carefully, a soft gasp coming from one of the girls behind him. She must have recognized his voice.

“Doesn’t matter, now, does it? What does matter is you shutting up. I’d hate to have to kill someone here—least of all you, seeing as you’re the one the detective wants.”

Asahi glanced at the clock. _4:48 AM._ The man settled himself on the arm of the couch, gun held in his lap and his eyes carefully trained on the four across the room. Every once in a while, he’d look up at the door, as if expecting someone.

As if he were waiting for Nishinoya.

He wished more than anything that he had his phone—that he could text Noya, or call the police, or do anything. As it stood, Asahi was big, and strong, but not as big and not as strong as the man that had taken them hostage, and while he might have been fast enough to surprise him, there was no way he could manage to wrest the gun from him without getting shot, or getting one of the girls hurt.

That left him with nothing to do but serve as an imposing protective shield between him and his students. Nishinoya wasn’t home yet, after all. He was little, and fast, and strong, and trained to take care of himself. Asahi just hoped that he would be on guard when he came home.

_Please._


	10. Chapter 10

_5:10 AM._

The house remained silent except for soft sniffles that tore through Asahi’s heart. Every once in a while, the man would stand, click something in his lap—then sit back down, eyes travelling the same weary line from the girls to the door.

Asahi’s knees began to hurt from sitting on them for so long. He shifted. The gun clicked. He settled back down.

 

_5:38 AM._

“Sure is takin’ his sweet time, that detective of yours,” the man glowered.

Asahi said nothing. He leveled his eyes as calmly as he could at the door and took long, slow breaths. He could feel three heartbeats behind him. Three people to protect.

The man flipped his phone open and shut again, agitated. He muttered something and then fell silent once more.

 

_6:15 AM._

“Where the hell is he!”

Something loud slammed, and Asahi winced at the sound of shattering furniture. The man rounded the corner once more, waving his weapon wildly. A shot went off, and the girls screamed—Asahi slid backwards and pushed their heads down, using his body as a shield the best he could.

He was so scared.

So, so scared, and he wasn’t sure what for—his life, their lives, Noya’s life. Loud noises didn’t sit well with him to begin with, let alone gunshots. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes.

“What kind of an _idiot_ —"

 

_6:18 AM._

“Police! Drop your weapons!”

The man roared and turned around to fire another shot as the door caved in. He missed, barely, hitting the doorframe instead of the face of whoever was there. Asahi turned his head just in time to see Noya duck under his arm and throw the gun off to the side before pointing his own gun at the man’s chest.

Asahi’s heart was going to burst. He was so tiny, but in that moment, he was more than he’d ever been before. Noya didn’t look away from the man’s face, blissfully unaware of Asahi’s internal revelation, voice lowering threateningly.

“Get on the ground, now.”

Several other officers ran in as he dropped to his knees, and as soon as he was in handcuffs and being dragged out the door, Noya was right in front of him.

“Sorry I’m late,” he managed, grin crooked and so ethereally beautiful in the early morning light.

Before he did something he’d regret, Asahi unwound himself and revealed the trembling forms of the three high schoolers. He sat back and let Nishinoya and the other officers do their jobs, helping the girls stand and adjust, speaking in kind words and soft tones. Asahi waved off any offers of help, trying to collect himself before standing on his own and making his way over to the couch.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Azumane-san, but we’re going to need a few statements from you,” someone said, barely registering through Asahi’s racing mind. He nodded mutely, doing as asked and answering every question with as neutral a face as he could manage. When they were finished, the police officer bowed politely and wandered off to finish doing their job.

It was only when a pair of thin arms wrapped around his shoulders that he was pulled from his own mind. He blinked, eyes widening.

“Thank you, Azumane-sensei.”

His arms acted of their own accord, holding Yamada for a few seconds before she pulled away, eyes watery and red. She looked exhausted.

“You should go home and get some rest, Yamada-chan,” he murmured, folding his hands in his lap. “You’ve been through a lot.”

She nodded, knuckles white where she had her fingers clenched in the hem of her shirt. “I will. I just… You protected us, so I wanted to say thank you.”

“I just did what anyone would do,” he smiled softly. He couldn’t believe his voice was so steady, or that she seemed to take his words to heart. “If you thank anyone, make it Detective Nishinoya. He’s worked tirelessly this past week to find you and bring you home.”

“That short guy over there?” She blinked.

Asahi didn’t even have the energy to laugh, but he couldn’t help the smile that formed at her words. “Yes. And he’s older than you, believe it or not, so be respectful. Go on.”

“I… Yes, sir. Bye, Azumane-sensei.”

He waved her off, watching as she ran out the door and stopped in front of Noya, bowing low before tackling him in a hug. Asahi smiled a little wider, absolutely sure that Noya’s face was redder than he’d ever seen it, and he watched Noya scratch the back of his head, waving a hand wildly. If Asahi strained, he could almost hear his voice…

Two people that he recognized as his student’s parents rushed into view, and Asahi relaxed. She was going home. They all were. Noya was alive, the strange man had been arrested, and he…

Well, he was tired. The adrenaline had long since worn off, and Noya’s couch was ridiculously comfortable. All the noise was outside, and honestly, he couldn’t figure out a reason not to fall asleep right there.

So he did, and warm golden brown eyes were the last things he thought about before everything faded into silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff from here, I swear! Man, that is not at all how I planned the end of this, but I'm pretty happy with it, honestly. The story kind of developed a mind of its own. Spooky. But good. Really good.
> 
> One more chapter, with the promised Asanoya.


	11. Chapter 11

Asahi woke up to fingers running gently through his hair, tracing little lines on his scalp with deft, slow fingertips. He hoped whatever was scratching his head would never, ever stop.

Unfortunately for him, when he burrowed his face further into his arms and sighed, a sound he took too long to recognize as halfway between a whimper and a moan pulled itself from the very back of his throat. The fingers stopped at the same time as Asahi’s heart.

“… Oh my god.”

Asahi’s eyes shot open at the sound of Nishinoya’s voice, and he twisted his neck to look up and see Noya sitting half-under him with his hand still in his hair, grinning like that was exactly where he belonged. Despite the positively gleeful smile on his face, Noya was also flushing almost as badly as Asahi was.

“What…”

“Asahi, that noise was _obscene_! Do it again!”

“Huh? … No! ‘Obscene’… What are you even…”

“First of all, I’d like it noted that I am innocent in all this,” Noya held up a finger, looking anything but innocent. “When I came back in, you had already crashed, so I just sat next to you to kind of chill for a while? And then you just slumped over into my lap, and I was like, ‘Damn, guy’s makin’ a move!’ But you were very, very asleep, actually, so I just went with it. You needed the sleep more than I needed you not in my lap. Not… that I don’t like having you in my lap.”

Asahi realized he hadn’t moved yet and shot up, heat burning under his collar. “Oh, god. I’m so sorry.”

Noya grinned again, and every time, it was the widest smile Asahi had ever seen. “Nah, don’t worry about it. You did a lot this morning.”

“… Yeah. Are—are you okay?”

“This is the second time you’ve asked me that unnecessarily,” Noya leveled a flat stare at him, pursing his lips. “I’m fine. You won’t always beat me to the punch on these things! I wanted to ask you, though. I’m really… I’m sorry I took so long.”

Asahi felt some tension drain from his shoulders. “Noya, no—”

“No, I put you in a scary situation for a lot longer than I should have. It just… took so long for the police to get everything together, and then driving here…”

“How did you even know what was going on?” Asahi blinked.

Noya averted his eyes, seeming unsure of if he should feel guilty or proud. “I work in criminal investigation, Asahi. Nothing happens on my own turf that I don’t know about. Obviously I put cameras up.”

“I’m glad,” he replied, voice barely a whisper. He waited for Noya to look back at him, expression shocked. “I—I was really… I mean, scared, yes, but more than that, I was so worried about you. I don’t know what would have happened to you if you hadn’t known he was here. And if you had gotten _hurt_ …”

“Asahi, you were the one protecting those girls. You’re the reason nobody got hurt,” Noya admonished, resting a hand on his cheek. Asahi covered his hand with his own, dwarfing it, and he delighted in the little gasp of a reaction he got, in the way Noya’s eyes widened just barely at the touch. “You…”

He kept their hands joined and slid his head to the side, pressing his lips to Noya’s palm. He could feel the heat radiating off his own cheeks. He had never been so forward with anyone in his whole life, but something about Noya made him want to be.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he whispered.

It was Noya’s turn to have a strange sound pulled from him, and it cut straight through Asahi’s chest. His eyes were wide, dark—not honey, but clouds at dusk—and the little whimper that he’d just made encouraged Asahi to be bold.

“Noya, can I…”

“Please, god, _please_ kiss me.”

Asahi did.

It was a chaste thing, softer and much sweeter than he had imagined kissing Nishinoya would be. Nishinoya brought fire and passion to everything he did, but with this, the rock that had held Asahi steady for so long turned to putty beneath his hands.

“Told ya I’d beat you to something,” Noya grinned, before proceeding to bury his face into Asahi’s chest. His fingers clenched in his shirt, trembling.

Asahi held him close, listening to the ticking of the nearby clock. He ran his fingers through Noya’s hair in time with it.

“We should talk about this,” he murmured.

Noya shook his head. “Nope. Shut up.”

“Noya…”

Suddenly, he was being kissed again, and when his head hit the couch, Asahi had the thought that he could really get used to it. Noya broke away, sounding breathless.

“Please don’t make me think about this yet. Just let me… just… okay?”

Asahi chuckled, despite himself. “Whatever you want.”

“As it should be,” Noya huffed, resting his head on Asahi’s chest again. “… We can talk later. I promise. For now, let’s just enjoy the rest, okay? We deserve it. I want to enjoy having you for a little while. So shut up and cuddle me.”

Asahi curled an arm around Noya’s waist and threaded his other hand through his hair, down in the middle of the day for once. “Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the end! I have so many feelings. Ugh. Tell me if you loved it as much as I do! Come talk to me about these two on Tumblr (https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mezzoelegy), or here. I love them so much. I would seriously love discussion buddies.
> 
> It's been real!


End file.
